In The Shadows
by FakeDoll
Summary: CRACK!Fic. It's Dumbledore's birthday, and he's having a party in the Great Hall. For some unexplained reason, the entertainment is Sirius Black, who is supposed to be dead. Not supposed to make sense...


It was Dumbledore's 120th birthday party, and Professor McGonagall had arranged a surprise party for him. But as he had a speech all ready before being led into the Great Hall, the guests knew that he'd arranged it himself.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore cried happily over the small crowd of people who were gathered around the stage he was standing on. "I'm so honoured to have so many people attend my party…," he faltered, glancing at the bored faces. The only person who looked remotely happy was McGonagall, yet even hers was a rather fake expression. Dumbledore decided to abandon his speech, and moved on to the exciting entertainment McGonagall had arranged - at his request.

"Thank you all for listening, and please put your hands together for the special guest who will be performing!"

Dumbledore shuffled off of the stage as the crowd followed McGonagall's lead with the applause.

A blinding flash appeared out of nowhere, causing quite a fuss. It was Professor Flitwick, attempting to alter the lights. After a few more flashes, the lights of the Great Hall disappeared, leaving just a wavering spotlight on the stage.

Everyone muttered, wondering what this was all about – the spotlight wasn't covering anyone. The light started to zoom all over the stage, trying to catch hold of the solo performer who was waiting patiently. The more alert members of the crowd caught glimpses of him as the light flew past his face.

Flitwick and Professor Sprout were trying hard to get it to stop in the right place, and failing terribly. A tall figure departed from the crowd of dizzy guests and walked over to the two Professors, annoyance very visible in his body language and on his face.

"Maybe if we use some herbs…," Sprout was muttering, one of her hands shielding her eyes from the sickening flashes. She looked over the Charms book, with a look of complete confusion on her face.

"Herbs, Sprout?" Professor Snape scoffed, impolitely snatching the book away from her. "For goodness sakes this is a lighting problem."

Sprout and Flitwick exchanged dark looks, as Snape looked over the instructions. With a silent wave of his wand, the spotlight suddenly stopped, conveniently on the entertainer.

In the Entrance Hall, a few more guests had arrived for Dumbledore's party, yet they were uninvited. In fact, they were unaware of a party. They were also in a broom closet. Their leader was impatiently waiting for all of the fully grown men to stop moving and complaining.

"For goodness sakes, shut up!" Lucius Malfoy hissed at them, annoyance gathering into rage. All of the Death Eaters froze. "Thank you, you bunch of half wits," he muttered.

There was an awkward silence. It was awkward because someone was pressed up against the boss.

"Who is that?" Lucius asked, trying to stay calm.

Thankfully, whoever it was was saved by a loud eruption of noise that came from the Great Hall. It sounded like a desperate attempt at music.

The horrified guests were transfixed at the man on the stage. A loud noise was reverberating around the hall and they all watched in disbelief as the 'entertainer' lifted up an echoing wand, and make weird distorted noises with it. The man looked rather gaunt, and had long, greasy hair. His eyes sparkled with excitement though…

"Whoa!" he yelled repeatedly, to the tune of the music.

The guests found themselves tripping over each other as they all backed away, though never taking their eyes off him.

"What on Earth…?" Snape muttered as he and the two other professors stared, mouths gaping, at the man now prancing all over the stage, leaving the spotlight behind him.

"What the hell is that crap?" Lucius snapped, pushing his way through the group of Death Eaters. There was quite a commotion, because pushing anything in such a closely knit space was fatal. The closet's door burst open, causing the six men to topple out ungracefully. Their cover was blown, but thankfully no one heard the noise from the Great Hall…

"No sleep! No sleep until I'm done with finding the answer!" the man sang into the wand. Everyone had stopped moving now, completely frozen in fascination.

Harry Potter, who had only attended this party because Hermione had persuaded he and Ron do so, was close to fainting. Sirius Black, a man who was pretty energetic for someone who looked dead – in fact, for someone who _was_ dead – was bouncing around the stage, leaving the spotlight behind. The three Professors were too shocked to even try to get it to follow him.

"Won't stop! Won't stop before I find a cure for this cancer!" Sirius continued, oblivious to the looks of shock focused on him. Within the crowd, Mrs Weasley leaned over to her husband.

"You _are_ seeing Sirius Black dancing around on a stage singing atrociously, right?" she muttered, nervous about her own mental health. Arthur just nodded, his mouth hanging open. "Good, good." she replied.

Back in the Entrance Hall, the five men milled around Lucius, each looking rather anxious.

"I say we burst in there," said one cloaked man. Everyone ignored him.

"This is bad," Lucius muttered, his eyes darting around the hall. "We shouldn't be so exposed." He pushed past the Death Eaters and headed over to another closet – which was smaller than the last. "Get in," he ordered.

The men just stared at him; each feeling this was an extremely bad idea. Lucius repeated his order, his voice more erratic. "Hurry up; we can't afford to get caught!"

There was no questioning a Malfoy, so they all climbed awkwardly into the cupboard. Lucius quickly snapped the door shut, and locked it with his wand. Clapping his hands in a villainous way, he walked off, leaving his men to work out what was going on.

"Sometimes! I feel I'm going down I'm so disconnected!" Sirius bellowed into his wand.

Harry stepped forward, wondering if someone had made a robotic version of his godfather.

"Somehow! I know I'm haunted to be wanted!"

At the back of the crowd of dumbfounded guests, Dumbledore was clapping his hands and tapping his foot along to the beat of the music, and having a merry time. Minerva McGonagall made her way over to him, looking vaguely ill.

"Good song isn't it!" Dumbledore yelled over to her. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"At least someone is enjoying it," she thought to herself.

"I've been watching! I've been waiting! In the shadows all my time! I've been searching! I've been living! For tomorrows of my life!" Sirius sang loudly.

"Well, at least he's explaining his absence…" Hermione said, in a comforting voice. She was trying to stop Harry from over reacting. The definition of Harry over reacting was rather complicated. It included him fainting, regaining consciousness, losing it again, and then when he was awake again; going off to attack the first person he could think of. Usually stuff like this happened when Snape was around.

Ron held onto Harry's shoulder supportively.

"In the shadows! In the shadows!" Sirius continued. More and more people were leaning towards Dumbledore's idea – enjoying the music for what it was. People were actually bopping along and genuinely starting to like it. Especially Luna Lovegood, who was completely oblivious to the strangeness of Sirius, who was meant to be very much dead, was singing on stage.

Meanwhile Lucius had made his way down into the Dungeons, and found his son Draco. The boy had the same look of disgust that Lucius had been wearing before hand.

"That is the worst thing I have heard for a long while," Draco announced as a greeting to his father. Lucius nodded in agreement and tapped his son with his snake cane, guiding him forward toward the staircase and back up into the Entrance Hall.

"Just ignore it; it's a good distraction for the imbeciles in the Great Hall."

"They say! That I must learn to kill before I can feel safe…" Sirius continued, making strange movements which suited Michael Jackson much more than they did him. Harry was getting ever so much closer to 'over reacting', and Ron, who was strangely amused by this, was finding it hard to keep a straight face. Finally, Harry managed to escape from his friends' supportive, yet restraining grip. He went off in search of Dumbledore. Finding McGonagall instead, he learnt that the Headmaster had conveniently "Popped off."

"Popped off?" Harry repeated in disbelief. "_Popped off_?" he yelled. People close-by turned their attention to him.

"Please, Mr Potter…" McGonagall began, looking rather disgruntled. "Do restrain yourself. I'm sure he'll be back at any moment..."

Cornelius Fudge stood with his back against a wall of the castle. Waving his hand ferociously, he beckoned a group of old wizards and witches to follow suit, and line up beside him. They had been hidden behind strategically placed trees. Each in turn, gave him an annoyed look as they squashed themselves up against the wall.

Fudge watched the surroundings with a beady eye. No one had passed in the last half an hour that he'd been standing there. He was now wondering if someone may have passed when he had blinked. The rest of his 'team' were worried about him.

"How about we go in and wish him many happy returns on this special day?" suggested a witch tentatively. Fudge turned around and glared at her.

"Well, we should at least go in, it's getting cold out here," she replied rather haughtily.

"Fine, fine, we'll go inside…" he muttered in annoyance. "I wonder if there is a back way into this place."

"But I… I'd rather kill myself then turn into their slave…"

By now the people in the hall were doing more then just bopping – there was swaying and even proper dancing.

Harry was still fuming about the 'surprise' that Dumbledore had sprung upon him, and to him and the crowd, the Headmaster's whereabouts was unknown.

Dumbledore was actually in the back room, with Professors Sprout, Flitwick and Snape. The old man was still bopping along to the music.

"He's quite good, isn't he Severus?" Dumbledore said, directing his cheerful question towards Snape. The Potions Master gave him a rather dirty look.

"Potter's after your blood, sir," he pointed out coldly.

"I'm sure once the boy is re-acquainted with Sirius he'll be in the best of moods," Dumbledore said smiling knowingly. "Until then, I'll stick around here."

He busied himself by looking through Flitwick's Charm's book. "Ah!" he said, and waved his wand. The lights in the Great Hall flickered again, and then suddenly lots of small and colourful rays spun around, giving the hall the feel of a disco room.

"Ooh!" the crowd and professors gasped, leaving just Severus with a feeling of distaste about this change.

The two blond haired Malfoys peered into the room. Both shared the same indescribable looks on their faces: a mixture of disgust and amazement. The music, lighting and dancing wasn't a pleasant sight. But what got to them the most was the performer. They didn't have time to dwell on this though, as they heard a noise coming from down the hall.

Lucius grabbed his son by the scruff of his robes and pulled him into a vacant classroom. They listened at the door whilst a group of wizards and witches traipsed past, being led by Cornelius Fudge.

"See! I told you there was a back way into this place!" sounded Fudge's scarily triumphant voice.

"We came in through a window," someone behind him protested, but he ignored them.

Draco peered through the small window on the door and watched the Wizengamot pass by, approaching the Entrance Hall. He sniggered as he saw a nervous looking Dolores Umbridge bring up the rear.

Fudge stopped when they reached the doors of the Great Hall, and again made his friends hide behind him as he peered in. Instantly he jumped back, causing a small domino affect. Umbridge landed harshly on the ground as a result of it. What he had seen was not what he'd expected – no House tables with food piled on top, no 'sunny day' affect on the ceiling…

"Whatever is the matter, Cornelius?"

"It's… It's Sirius Black!" Fudge cried, pointing with a shaking hand. The others looked at him disbelieving and he moved out of the way so they could look.

"Sometimes… I feel that I should go and play with the thunder!" Sirius had now jumped off of the stage and was making his way through the crowd of dancing party goers.

Hermione was hyperventilating slightly, and a worried Ron was trying to stop Harry from doing something stupid.

"Hello, hello!" cried a cheerful voice behind them, and they all turned around to find themselves looking at Remus Lupin. They stood in silence for a moment, starting at the man in awe.

"Did you know that Sirius was alive?" Harry demanded once he'd got his voice back.

"Where is the birthday boy?" Lupin said, ignoring Harry.

Ron let go of Hermione - who slumped to the floor - and grabbed hold of Harry, who looked like he was going to skip a couple of stages and just plain-out attack Lupin.

"Wait, isn't it full moon tonight?" Ron asked nervously, as he tried to restrain the struggling Harry. Lupin looked away from them and leant over to help Hermione up.

"Let's get these two to the back room," he suggested quickly, avoiding eye contact with either of the boys.

The back room was full, and Dumbledore had magically conjured up party decorations, food and hats. It had been a bit of a struggle to get Snape to wear his, but after a magi-glue attack, the hat stood firmly on his greasy black hair.

So really there wasn't much room for an unconscious girl and a furious boy. But there really was no choice in the matter, as a few seconds later the door bust open and there they were.

Lupin backed his way into the room, dragging Hermione, and was followed by Ron and Harry. Not realising that it was a bad idea, Ron let go of Harry and seconds later Harry had jumped over Hermione, knocking back Lupin into Snape. They all landed messily in a heap, and Ron managed to trip over them in a wild attempt to grab his best friend. Flitwick and Sprout watched on from the corner of the room fearfully.

Dumbledore gave Harry one of his most charming smiles, complete with the twinkling eyes and all. It just made Harry even angrier, and he advanced toward him.

"You wouldn't hit a poor old man with glasses on, would you?" Dumbledore said chuckling.

Harry considered this for a moment, and then swiped the half-moon spectacles off of the man's face. Before he could do anything else, Dumbledore shot past Harry, sending his party hat fluttering to the floor. The old man had impeccable speed for someone his age, and without the aid of his glasses. By the time Harry had turned around he was halfway through the Great Hall.

"Somehow… I just don't want to stay and wait for a wonder!" Sirius sang, as Dumbledore flurried past him. Mr and Mrs Weasley were dancing in a way that they hadn't for years, and Harry hurriedly passed by them, followed by a weary looking Ron, a bruised Lupin and an extremely angry Snape – whose party hat was still upright, though quite crumpled, on his head.

"I've been watching! I've been waiting! In the shadows, all my time! I've been searching! I've been living! For tomorrows of my life!" Sirius sang, as Dumbledore skidded into the Entrance Hall. He looked both ways and stopped – both were blocked. One by the Wizengamot, who were all peering at a cupboard door which was moving with increasing pace, and the other blocked by two smirking Malfoys.

"Damn," Dumbledore cursed, causing the Wizengamot to shift their attention to him. Seconds later, Harry entered the Entrance Hall. His feet unable to stop, he ran straight past Dumbledore and into Cornelius Fudge. The ex-Minister for Magic and the Wizengamot went flying into the cupboard door, and there was a loud crack of wood. After a lot of yelling and cursing, everyone realised that five more wizards had joined the pile on the floor.

Harry was the first up on his feet, and went straight back over to Dumbledore. At this moment, Ron, Lupin, Snape and a singing Sirius entered the Entrance Hall as well.

"Lately, I've been walking…" Sirius continued, as everyone watched as Harry rounded on Dumbledore. "Walking in circles…"

"It isn't me who you should be attacking, Harry. It's Sirius." Dumbledore said calmly.

"Watching, waiting for something,"

"If I do that… the song will never end. This will never end!" Harry cried in frustration.

He looked around, and saw a Death Eater clumsily help Fudge up to his feet. He saw his friends, Ron and Lupin, trying to regain their breath. Then he noticed Snape trying to yank the destroyed hat off of his head. Past them he saw Sirius, who was of course still singing, and bopping. Behind him, the amused faces of the Malfoys'.

"Quite a turn out for your party," Harry commented, all of the anger floating out of him.

"Feel me! Touch me! Heal me!"

"Yes, none of them invited as well!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. Fudge stepped forward, a maniacal expression of happiness on his face.

"Ha-ha! We got you! This is all _proof_ that you're on the dark side!"

"Come take me higher!"

"What?" cried everyone except for Sirius, who was still singing and Dumbledore, who looked extremely amused.

"Very funny, Fudge!" he said, then turned back to Harry, "Now, where were we?"

"I've been watching! I've been waiting! In the shadows, all my time! I've been searching! I've been living! For tomorrows of my life!"

"Er… Happy birthday, I guess…" Harry said, sighing. All the anger was gone. He handed the man back his glasses. Dumbledore beamed.

"Thank you Harry!" he said cheerfully.

"I've been watching!"

Snape walked over to the Headmaster, giving him an almost pleading look, and gesturing to the hat. Dumbledore chuckled, and with a swipe of his wand the hat toppled off of Snape's head.

"I've been waiting!"

"Well, well, happy birthday, Albus!" Lupin said happily, shaking his hand. "Now, Severus, you wouldn't happen to have some Wolfsbane around here, would you? I'm rather urgently in need of some…"

Snape nodded and the two men hurried off in the direction of the Dungeons, passing the Malfoys' on the way, and only giving them a fleetingly curious glance.

"I've been searching!"

"Um, sir," Ron addressed Dumbledore, "Hermione's not too well… I think we need to get her to the Hospital Wing,"

Dumbledore nodded and they all retreated back toward the Great Hall.

"I've been living for tomorrows!"

"Well then," Dumbledore said to the Death Eaters, Malfoys and Wizengamot. "Are you going to be standing out here all day?" He beckoned them to join him. Awkwardly, they all shifted into the hall. "Party time!" Dumbledore cried.

"In the shadows!" Sirius cried, bringing up the rear of the crowd and dancing to his own voice. "In the shadows! I've been waiting!"


End file.
